Myrtis Pate (19) was murdered and her body was dumped in a drainage canal

There's a new development in the murder of a Clarksdale, Mississippi teengager.

Myrtis Pate went missing in early April. A couple of weeks later, her body was found in a drainage canal at the other end of Coahoma County.

Police seemed stumped, until word leaked they were questioning someone in the case.

Investigators have had their ears open, listening for talk of what may have happened to 19 year old Pate.

That's how they came to bring in a family member for questioning. "One off the brothers of the victim has been detained for questioning and he should be released soon. There's not been an arrest made," said Coahoma County's Chief Deputy Meyer Gilbert.

He indicated detectives didn't learn much from the brother, so they're turning their attention elsewhere.

Pate's mother said the move surprised her, but she wasn't angry about it, "They did what was fitting and proper. They are doing their jobs. They're supposed to do their jobs."

She says the stress of losing her daughter and finding her killer has put almost unbearable pressure on her health.

For now, all anyone knows is, Myrtis Pate left the house, after a disagreement with her mother, and got into a waiting SUV outside.

The key, investigators say, is who Myrtis Pate got into the SUV with that night, and how she got from Clarksdale, all the way up to a farm canal dozens of miles away.

Without word-of-mouth evidence, investigators don't have much to go on. "The length of the time between the time she was first declared a missing person and she was declared a homicide, evidence deteriorated. The Body being found out in a drainage canal adds to the lack of evidence," said Gilbert.

Solving the murder seems to hinge on the family's $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. "Hopefully, somebody saw something out there that they can, that jogs their memory that they can tell me more," said Mrs. Pate.